WASHINGTON, Nov 23 (Reuters) – The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden announced on Tuesday it will release millions of barrels of oil from strategic reserves in coordination with China, India, South Korea, Japan and Britain, to try to cool prices after OPEC+ producers repeatedly ignored calls for more crude.

Biden, facing low approval ratings amid rising inflation ahead of next year’s congressional elections, has grown frustrated at repeatedly asking the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, known as OPEC+, to pump more oil without any response.

“I told you before that we’re going to take action on these problems. That’s exactly what we’re doing,” Biden said in remarks broadcast from the White House. “It will take time, but before long you should see the price of gas drop where you fill up your tank, and in the longer-term we will reduce our reliance on oil as we shift to clean energy,” he said.

Crude oil prices recently touched seven-year highs, and consumers are feeling the pain of the increase in fuel costs. Retail gasoline prices are up more than 60% in the last year, the fastest rate of increase since 2000, largely because people have returned to the roads as pandemic-induced restrictions have eased and demand has rebounded.

Under the plan, the United States will release 50 million barrels, the equivalent of about two and a half days of U.S. demand. India, meanwhile, said it would release 5 million barrels, while Britain said it would allow the voluntary release of 1.5 million barrels of oil from privately held reserves.

Japan will hold auctions for about 4.2 million barrels of oil, about 1 or 2 days worth of its demand, out of its national stockpile by the end of the year, the Nikkei newspaper reported on Wednesday. Details on the amount and timing of the release of oil from South Korea and China were not announced. Seoul said it would decide after discussions with the United States and other allies.

The price of oil rebounded on Tuesday, after falling for several days as rumors of the plans made their way into the market. Some analysts also attributed the market’s rebound to the lack of firm details out of China, though Reuters reported last week that the country has been working on such a release. Brent crude futures rose 3.3% on Tuesday to $82.31 a barrel. It was the first time that the United States had coordinated such a move with some of the world’s largest Asian oil consumers, officials said.

OPEC+, which includes Saudi Arabia and other U.S. allies in the Gulf, as well as Russia, has rebuffed requests to pump more at its monthly meetings. It meets again on Dec. 2 to discuss policy but has so far shown no indication it will change tack.

The group has been struggling to meet existing targets under its agreement to gradually increase production by 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) each month – a pace Washington sees as too slow – and it remains worried that a resurgence of coronavirus cases could again drive down demand.

Recent high oil prices have been caused by a sharp rebound in global demand, which cratered early in the pandemic in 2021, and analysts have said that releasing reserves may not be enough to curb further rises.

“It’s not large enough to bring down prices in a meaningful way and may even backfire if it prompts OPEC+ to slow the pace at which it is raising output,” said Caroline Bain, chief commodities economist at Capital Economics Ltd.

The administration has also pointed to a notable gap between the price of unfinished gasoline futures and the retail cost of gasoline, which has widened to about $1.14 a gallon from roughly 78 cents in mid-October. The White House urged the Federal Trade Commission to investigate the issue last week.

Biden’s political opponents, meanwhile, seized on the announcement to criticize his administration’s efforts to decarbonize the U.S. economy and discourage new fossil fuel development on federal lands.

The release from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve would be a combination of a loan and a sale to companies, U.S. officials said. The 32 million-barrel loan will take place over the next several months, while the administration would accelerate a sale of 18 million barrels already approved by Congress to raise funds for the budget.

Reporting by Timothy Gardner in Washington Additional reporting by Sonali Paul in Melbourne, Ghaida Ghantous in Dubai, Ahmad Ghaddar in London, OPEC team, Jarrett Renshaw in Philadelphia, Alexandra Alper and Jeff Mason in Washington, Jessica Resnick-Ault in New York and Aaron Sheldrick in Tokyo Writing by Edmund Blair, Alexander Smith and Richard Valdmanis Editing by David Gaffen, Carmel Crimmins, Cynthia Osterman and Matthew Lewis

HONG KONG, Nov 23 (Reuters) – Asia stocks were mostly lower on Tuesday, tracking a retreat on Wall Street after President Joe Biden picked Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to lead the central bank for a second term, reinforcing expectations the U.S. will taper its stimulus soon.

MSCI’s gauge of Asia Pacific stocks outside Japan (.MIAPJ0000PUS) fell 0.49%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index (.HSI) and China’s benchmark CSI300 Index (.CSI300) opened 1.1% and 0.2% lower, respectively.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 (.AXJO) outperformed with a 0.55% gain, boosted by miners and energy stocks. read more Japanese markets were closed for a public holiday. Riskier assets have been shaken up again over recent sessions amid surging COVID-19 cases in Europe and renewed curbs, dousing investor hopes of a quicker recovery in consumption and growth worldwide.

Germany’s outgoing Chancellor Merkel said the latest surge is the worst experienced by the country so far, while Austria went into a fresh lockdown on Monday.

Overnight on Wall Street, the S&P 500 (.SPX) and Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) retreated from all-time highs after President Biden tapped Powell to continue as Fed chair, and Lael Brainard, the other top candidate for the job, as vice chair.

“The USD looks poised to hold onto its gains post-Powell renomination as it leaves room for markets to flirt with the idea of a faster taper,” said analysts at TD Securities in a note.

ANZ bank analysts concurred, saying in a note to clients that the Powell news stoked “expectations that tapering will accelerate and rates will begin to lift from June 2022.” The U.S. rates chatter kept the dollar index well supported near a 16-month peak. The greenback was also near a 4-1/2-year top versus the yen in early deals on Tuesday. read more

Powell’s current term, which has seen an emphasis on creating jobs from the prominent focus on inflation, has proven positive for risk assets, with the S&P gaining 69.7% since his appointment. U.S. Treasury yields were led higher by two-year notes, which typically moves in step with interest rate expectations. It hit its highest level since early March 2020.

In commodities, spot gold rose 0.19% to $1,808.4 per ounce at 0226GMT, paring Monday’s losses. Gold prices were under pressure as Powell’s nomination drove expectations that the central bank will stay the course on tapering economic support.

Oil prices were in the red again after a short rebound the previous day from recent losses on reports that OPEC+ could adjust plans to raise oil production if large consuming countries release crude from their reserves or if the coronavirus pandemic dampens demand.

Brent crude was down 0.21% at $79.53 a barrel and U.S. crude dropped 0.5% to $76.38 per barrel by 0226GMT. The U.S. Department of Energy is expected to announce a loan of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve on Tuesday in coordination with other countries, Reuters reported earlier.

Reporting by Kane Wu in Hong Kong Editing by Shri Navaratnam

Nov 17 (Reuters) – European stocks closed at a record high on Wednesday, rising for the sixth straight session, as positive earnings reports helped overshadow worries that soaring gas prices were feeding into inflationary pressures.

The pan-European STOXX 600 (.STOXX) rose 0.2% after better-than-expected U.S. retail sales data lifted Wall Street equities on Tuesday. Profits of companies listed on the STOXX 600 are expected to rise 60.4% in the third quarter to 103.6 billion euros ($117.2 billion) from a year earlier, latest Refinitiv data showed, a dip from last week’s 60.7% estimate.

German medical tech firm Siemens Healthineers (SHLG.DE) gained 5.6% after raising synergy targets from its Varian acquisition earlier this year. read more Swiss luxury firm Richemont (CFR.S) extended its rally for a fifth day, up 0.6% to an all-time high, after a slew of price target raises by brokerages.

European stocks have eked out small gains this week to stay near record highs as strong earnings and signs of economic momentum counteract concerns around a fresh COVID-19 surge in Europe and inflation.

Data showed euro zone inflation rose to more than twice the European Central Bank’s target in October, with more than half of the jump due to a spike in energy prices. read more

“October’s euro-zone inflation data confirm that core price pressures are weaker than in other advanced economies,” said Jack Allen-Reynolds, senior Europe economist at Capital Economics. “While we don’t expect services inflation to rise a lot further, high input costs will push goods inflation up in the near term.”

The price of gas next month in the Netherlands , which is considered to be a benchmark for Europe, jumped almost 8% on Wednesday to hit 101.30 euros per megawatt-hour (MWh), its highest since Oct. 18. read more

“The longer the shortfall of Russian flows into Northwestern Europe lasts, the longer… gas markets will have to rely on high gas prices,” said Goldman Sachs in a note.

Polish parcel locker firm InPost’s (INPST.AS) shares plunged 13.2% after lowering its full-year outlook citing slower-than-expected e-commerce market growth. Travel and leisure stocks (.SXTP) fell 1.7%, dragged down by Swedish online gaming company Evolution (EVOG.ST).

Reporting by Anisha Sircar and Shreyashi Sanyal in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli and Alexander Smith

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Crude oil prices skidded on Monday, under pressure from expectations of higher supplies and weakening demand.

Brent crude futures fell 58 cents, or 0.7%, to $81.59 a barrel, as of 0151 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude lost 58 cents, or 0.7%, to $80.21 a barrel.

Both markets have dropped for the last three weeks, hit by a strengthening dollar and speculation that President Joe Biden’s administration might release oil from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve to cool prices.

“The White House has been debating how to tackle higher inflation, with some officials calling for the strategic reserve to be tapped, or halting U.S. exports,” ANZ analysts said in a report.

U.S. energy firms this week added oil and natural gas rigs for a third week in a row with crude prices hovering near a seven-year high, prompting some drillers to return to the wellpad.

The oil and gas rig count, an early indicator of future output, rose by six to 556 in the week to Nov. 12, its highest level since April 2020, energy services firm Baker Hughes Co said on Friday.

Meanwhile, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) last week cut its world oil demand forecast for the fourth quarter by 330,000 barrels per day (bpd) from last month’s forecast, as high energy prices hampered economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Russia’s Rosneft, the world’s second-biggest oil company by output after Saudi Aramco, warned on Friday of a potential “super cycle” in global energy markets, raising the prospect of even higher prices as demand outstrips supply.

(Reporting by Naveen Thukral; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell)

Nov 11 (Reuters) – Oil prices settled slightly higher on Thursday, as the market grappled with a stronger U.S. dollar along with concern over increasing U.S. inflation, and after OPEC cut its 2021 oil demand forecast due to high prices.

Brent crude futures settled up 23 cents at $82.87 a barrel after falling during the session to $81.66. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures were up 25 cents to $81.59, bouncing off the session low of $80.20.

The energy complex traded higher toward the end of the session on confidence that post-pandemic demand would strengthen further in the coming months.

“Fresh highs lay ahead as the ingredients needed to place a top in this market remain elusive, namely global oil demand exceeding new production,” said Jim Ritterbusch, president of Ritterbusch and Associates LLC in Galena, Illinois.

However, the rate at which demand returns may be dampened by higher energy prices according to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). The cartel said in a monthly report it expects oil demand to average 99.49 million barrels per day (bpd) in the fourth quarter of 2021, down 330,000 bpd from last month’s forecast. read more

“A slowdown in the pace of recovery in the fourth quarter of 2021 is now assumed due to elevated energy prices,” OPEC said in the report, also citing slow demand in China and India.

On Wednesday, U.S. data showed consumer price inflation rose in October at an annual rate of by 6.2%, the fastest in 30 years, driven largely by steeper energy prices. Expectations that the data would prompt U.S. rate hikes pushed the dollar higher and sent Brent and WTI crude down by 2.5% and 3.3%, respectively. read more

On Thursday, the dollar rose to almost 16-month highs against the euro and other currencies due to bets on interest rate hikes.

OPEC sees world consumption surpassing the 100 million bpd mark in the third quarter of 2022, three months later than forecast last month. The producer group has cited the uncertain path for demand as a primary reason why it will not increase supply to satisfy calls for more crude from the United States.

Brent crude has gained more than 60% this year and hit a three-year high of $86.70 on Oct. 25. However, oil prices appear to be consolidating below $85 a barrel, Norbert Rucker, head of economics at Julius Baer, said in a note.

“We could be looking at early signs of a fundamental transition towards an easing market, not least as oil demand should only grow gradually going forward with the pick-up in U.S. shale and petro-nation supply.”

Additional reporting by Ron Bousso; Additional reporting by Jessica Jaganathan; Editing Steve Orlofsky, Bernadette Baum and David Gregorio

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Wall Street closed sharply lower on Wednesday as surging consumer prices curbed investor risk appetite, and stoked worries of a protracted wave of red hot inflation.

All three major U.S. stock indexes fell, extending their losses throughout the trading day and adding to Tuesday’s sell-off which snapped the S&P 500’s and Nasdaq’s eight-session runs of all-time closing highs.

“It’s not surprising that after what was truly a historic run for the market to take a pause,” said Ross Mayfield, investment strategy analyst at Baird in Louisville, Kentucky. “But we do think there are enough tailwinds heading into year-end to move the market higher.”

The Labor Department’s consumer price index (CPI), delivered a hotter-than-expected jump of 0.9% and the fastest year-on-year gain in 31 years.

The report hinted that the persistently tangled global supply chain could result in the current inflation wave taking longer to abate than many – including the U.S. Federal Reserve – had hoped.

“The inflation story is really the driver that drives all things,” Mayfield added. “It will affect Fed policy and fiscal policy, it’s the driver of interest rates. It’s hard to talk about anything but inflation.”

And Gregory Daco, chief economist of Oxford Economics, believes this report means current price spikes have some staying power.

“I think things will continue to get worse before they get better in terms of the inflation outlook because we don’t see core inflation peaking until sometime in early 2022,” Daco said.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 240.04 points, or 0.66%, to 36,079.94, the S&P 500 lost 38.54 points, or 0.82%, to 4,646.71 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 263.84 points, or 1.66%, to 15,622.71. Of the 11 major sectors in the S&P 500 eight closed red, with energy suffering the biggest percentage losses. Utilities led the gainers.

Tech weighed heaviest on the S&P 500, with megacaps Apple Inc and Microsoft Corp among the biggest drags. Third-quarter earnings season has reached the final stretch, and of the companies having reported, 81% have beaten street expectations.

Walt Disney Co shares dropped more than 4% in after-hours trading after the media company reported disappointing streaming subscriber numbers.

Tesla Inc rose 4.3%, reversing several sessions of declines in the wake of CEO Elon Musk’s polling Twitter users on whether he should sell 10% of his stake in the company he founded.

This comes as rival electric vehicle maker Rivian Automotive Inc made its splash as a publicly traded company, raising $12 billion. Its shares surged 29.1%.

Retail trading platform Robinhood Markets Inc plunged 6.0%, adding to its losses two days after reporting a security breach affecting 5 million customers. Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a 2.26-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 2.50-to-1 ratio favored decliners.

The S&P 500 posted 26 new 52-week highs and 4 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 95 new highs and 121 new lows. Volume on U.S. exchanges was 11.72 billion shares, compared with the 10.89 billion average over the last 20 trading days.

Reporting by Stephen Culp; additional reporting by Karen Pierog in New York, and Shreyashi Sanyal and Devik Jain in Bengaluru; editing by Diane Craft

HONG KONG (Reuters) – Asian shares followed Wall Street higher in early trade on Tuesday as the passage of a U.S. infrastructure bill boosted sentiment while oil prices gained on the outlook for energy demand in an expansive global economy.

The congressional passage of a long-delayed U.S. $1 trillion infrastructure bill over the weekend has cheered investors, who however face another test later in the week from a reading on U.S. inflation that may influence plans for tightening monetary policy.

Early in the Asian trading day, MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.3%. Japan’s Nikkei stock index rose 0.06% while Australian shares were down 0.12%. China’s blue-chip CSI300 index was 0.33% higher in early trade. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index opened up 0.65%.

On Monday, Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 index and the Nasdaq extended their run of all-time closing highs to eight straight sessions, while the blue-chip Dow notched its second consecutive record closing high.

A 4.9% decline in Tesla Inc shares however weighed on the S&P 500. Tesla fell after Chief Executive Elon Musk’s Twitter poll on whether he should sell about 10% of his stock in the electric automaker. The poll garnered more than 3.5 million votes, with 57.9% voting “Yes”.

World shares also rose on Monday after hitting a record high last week as relatively dovish central bank messages and strong U.S. labour data on Friday added to optimism generated by a healthy earnings season on both sides of the Atlantic.

But a tight U.S. labour market and the dislocation in global supply chains could result in a high reading for consumer prices on Wednesday. Strong inflation likely would rekindle talk of Federal Reserve raising interest rates earlier than expected.

“Although Chair Powell maintains the Fed can be patient with regards to rate hikes, with measures of underlying inflation and wages intensifying and broadening, the clock is ticking on how long the it can hold that line,” ANZ analysts said in a note.

Traders also sent most U.S. Treasury yields higher on Monday after Congress passed the infrastructure bill on Saturday. The yield on benchmark 10-year Treasury notes touched 1.4862% compared with its U.S. close of 1.497% on Monday. The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six currencies, was up at 94.075.

Oil prices firmed as the passage of the U.S. infrastructure bill and China’s export growth supported the outlook for energy demand. Saudi Arabia’s state-owned producer Aramco also raised the official selling price for its crude.

U.S. crude ticked up 0.15% to $82.05 a barrel. Brent crude rose to $83.59 per barrel. Spot gold was slightly lower, trading at $1,823.3 per ounce. [GOL/]

(Prepared by Julie Zhu, Editing by Lincoln Feast.)

SYDNEY, Nov 8 (Reuters) – Bitcoin rose to a two-and-a-half-week peak on Monday and ether climbed to a fresh record as cryptocurrencies ride higher on a wave of momentum, flows, favourable news and inflation fears.

Bitcoin was last up about 3% at $65,121 and ether , which underpins the ethereum network, sat at a record top of $4,711. Ether is up 57% since the start of October and bitcoin about 50% as investors have cheered last month’s launch of a U.S. futures-based bitcoin exchange-traded fund and sought exposure to an asset class sometimes regarded as an inflation hedge.

Falling real yields, as traders brace for inflation, adds to the attractiveness of assets such as gold and cryptocurrencies which do not pay a coupon, said Kyle Rodda, analyst at broker IG Markets, adding that the mood in the sector has also been good.

“Financial institutions want to be a part of it, regulators don’t want to clamp down on it too much,” he said. “We’re almost past the inflection point, where it’s part of the system and its going to be very, very hard to extricate it.”

In recent weeks Australia’s biggest bank has said it will offer crypto trading to retail customers, Singaporean authorities have sounded positive on the asset class and spillover from a positive mood in stocks has also leant support.

Last week New York Mayor-elect Eric Adams said he would take his first three paychecks in bitcoin and signaled his intention to make his city the “center of the cryptocurrency industry” after a similar pledge from Miami’s mayor. read more

Reporting by Tom Westbrook; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – The dollar held within striking distance of the year’s peaks on the euro and yen on Wednesday, as investors looked for the Federal Reserve to begin unwinding pandemic-era policy support faster than central banks in Europe and Japan.

Moves were slight in Asia ahead of the Fed’s meeting later in the day and the dollar bought 113.94 yen , against a 2021 peak of 114.69, and traded at $1.1578 per euro against the year’s top of $1.1522 per euro. The U.S. dollar index held overnight gains to sit at 94.117.

The Fed is expected to announce the tapering of its $120 billion-a-month asset purchase programme in its policy statement at 1800 GMT. read more

But traders are focused on clues around what that means for timing of rate rises, after a month of seismic moves in the bond market in anticipation of hikes as soon as next year.

A day ago, the Reserve Bank of Australia abandoned its short-term yield target and dropped its expectation of holding rates at record lows until 2024, though the Aussie fell because the bank also pushed back on aggressive pricing for 2022 hikes. read more

The Aussie had dropped 1.2% against the dollar on Tuesday and sat at $0.7430 on Wednesday. The kiwi was also dragged 1% lower, but found support on Wednesday from strong labour data and hovered at $0.7123.

Currency markets’ next moves likely depend on traders’ perception of the relative pace of policy tightening and on whether markets can stick with an assumption that the Fed funds rate won’t get much higher than 1.75% through the cycle.

“Fed Policy is under challenge in ways that cannot be remembered since the early Volcker years,” said Deutsche Bank strategist Alan Ruskin.

“Inflation is taking off with an economy that has been pricing itself off zero nominal rates and dramatic negative real rates for the last 18 months,” he said.

So far, the dollar had been held back by rising expectations of even faster hiking elsewhere in the world, but risks lie ahead if traders start to think that more than a few rate rises will be needed to tame fast-rising prices.

“If the expected resilience of the real economy to rate hikes is correct, and inflation is similarly stubborn, the market expectations on the terminal funds rate at near 1.75% by the end of 2026 looks way too low,” he said.

Also ahead this week is a Bank of England meeting where swaps pricing points to a modest rate hike, but a falling currency suggests a risk of disappointment or at least of a fairly stern pushback against market inflation expectations.

“I lean towards a 15bps hike at this meeting with a 5-4 vote in favour,” said Luke Suddards, strategist at broker Pepperstone.

“However, because this is basically baked into the price, I would say the risk is for sterling to weaken if they decided rather to hold and we see some dovish repricing in money markets.”

Sterling sat just above a two-week low at $1.3620 in Asia, roughly in the bottom half of range it has traded since July.

Besides the Fed meeting, eurozone unemployment data is due later on Wednesday and several European Central Bank officials make public appearances, with French central bank head Francois Villeroy de Galhau the most notable at 1300 GMT.

Reporting by Tom Westbrook; Editing by Sam Holmes